The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard – basically an analog precursor of modern software music samplers.

Plogue Sforzatron is a software implementation of the Mellotron for the free sample player Plogue Sforzando. It’s based on the same set of samples released by Taijiguy used in several other free Mellotrons, but it adds a little flexibility not present in the originals.

In addition to allowing the blending of any three sounds from the Mellotron samples, Sforzatron also adds ADSR envelope, tone, detune and pan controls for each sound slot, plus global overdrive, detune and reverb effects. The presets fall into three general categories: authentic Mellotron sounds, thicker and swirlier detuned variations, and sounds which use the envelopes to simulate percussive sounds or reverse tape effects.

Creating a digital recreation of a comparatively primitive analog audio sampler would seem counterintuitive – but recreating the warm distortion and character that defined classic art rock of the late sixties and early seventies as a starting point for new music is the goal here.

Related:

Blog post by Michael Thomas “Mike” Pinder, English rock musician, founding member and original keyboard player of the The Moody Blues whose haunting riffs were played on the Mellotron